Thursday

“Hitchin
Lavender is a lavender farm attraction with around 25 miles of lavender rows
which you can walk through and pick your own fresh flowers from. As
well as the fields of lavender we also grow sunflowers and have
a wildflower area.The farm has
some spectacular views of rural Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire and there are
many interesting walks surrounding us.

Inside
our 17th century barn we have a range of lunches and home made cakes
available and you can also browse our lavender products
and choose from our large variety of lavender plants on offer.”

Hitchin
Lavender is about an hour away by car.We will organize shared transport leaving Riseley around 10.30 on
Tuesday 21 June.The cost is £4.50 per
person (picking included).If you would
like to join this trip please contact Maureen Allen maureen.allen95@btinternet.com or 708308, indicating whether
you require transport or can offer a lift to others.

Rousham
House and Gardens

Tuesday
5 July 2016 – shared transport

Rousham
is about 12 miles north of Oxford, OX25 4QU, 61 miles from Riseley – www.rousham.org . The house is only open
to visitors by prior arrangement and the cost to visit the house and gardens is
£10 per person.We have a guided tour booked for 11am on
Tuesday 5 July.There is no café at
Rousham, so a picnic will be required!If
you would like to join this trip please contact Ann Clark 709439, annbarasiclark@btinternet.com indicating
whether you require transport or can offer a lift to others.

“Rousham and its landscape garden is the work
of William Kent (1685-1748). Rousham represents the first phase of English
landscape design and remains almost as Kent left it, one of the few gardens of
this date to have escaped alteration, with many features which delighted
eighteenth century visitors to Rousham still in situ, such as the ponds and
cascades in Venus’s Vale, the Cold Bath, and seven arched Praeneste, Townsend’s
Building, the Temple of the Mill, and, on the skyline, a sham ruin known as the
‘Eyecatcher’.

The house, built in 1635 by Sir Robert Dormer,
is still in the ownership of the same family. Kent added the wings and the
stable block. The south front is almost as Kent left it, but for the
replacement of the octagonal glazing with plain glass. The house retains some
17th century panelling and the original staircases, furniture, pictures and
bronzes.”